ALBANY – New York State, Thursday, became the first in the nation to set drinking water standards for three emerging synthetic chemicals that have been wreaking havoc with the Newburgh watershed.
There can no longer be more than 10 parts per billion of PFOA and PFOS in drinking water and no more than one part per billion of 1,4 dioxane.
Rob Hayes, clean water advocate for Environmental Advocates New York, said it took a lot of pressure to get the state to move off the dime on this issue.
“It is really the result of tireless advocacy from impacted communities like Hoosick Falls and Newburgh, that have demanding these drinking water standards for years,” he said. “Now we know that many water systems have never tested for these chemicals before. It likely that they are very prevalent in drinking water.”
In both Newburgh and Hoosick Falls, those chemicals have been found to have contaminated the drinking water supplies.
